Could Tent Cities Work in California?

Sacramento City Councilmember Jay Schenirer, who chairs a subcommittee to explore solutions for homelessness, shared his thoughts on the "tent city" model and laid out several factors the city is considering in The Planning Report.

The city is already pursuing a long-term plan for permanent housing, Schenirer says. For right now, they’re looking to mitigate the day-to-day predicament of homeless individuals and families—as they sleep on the street, get ticketed, go through the court system, and end up right back where they started.

That means Sacramento would likely alter the model used in Seattle, where roving encampments appear to house residents on a semi-permanent basis.

"If we were to do something similar in Sacramento—and that’s a big 'if,' still—we would want to make sure it is part of our continuum of care," Schenirer says. "I can imagine either a tiny-house village or a tent encampment that is a triage center, where folks could go for some period of time on their way into permanent housing."

Whatever path Sacramento takes, one essential factor in its success will be regional cooperation. According to Schenirer, the dissolution of the California Redevelopment Agency has severely limited the budget for this issue, and much funding for homelessness and housing comes from the federal and state levels to the county—not to the city directly.

Sacramento's deliberations are resonant with the challenges faced by urban centers around the state and country. Read the interview in The Planning Report.